Federal Funding for Academic and Health R&D

Indicator 14: Federal Funding for Academic and Health R&D

How Does Massachusetts Perform?

Due to federal budget cuts, federal funding for academic R&D declined in all the LTS in 2015, with every state falling below its 2010 level. Massachusetts remains second among the LTS in federal R&D funding awarded to universities and non-profit institutions. Massachusetts received $3.1B in federal R&D funding in 2015, roughly 1/3rd less than California’s total ($4.7B), an impressive statistic considering the Commonwealth’s population, which is 1/6th that of the Golden State.

Massachusetts continues to maintain a lead in federal funding for Academic R&D per $1,000 GDP at $7.07. This is almost twice as much as second ranked Rhode Island, which also benefits from a large concentration of research hospitals and medical schools as well as a small population base. Despite leading the LTS, Massachusetts has suffered a 29% decrease in federal funding for Academic R&D per $1,000 GDP since 2010.

Of the 52,470 awards from the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the U.S. in 2016, Massachusetts accounts for 5,029 or 9.6%. Massachusetts also had a 10.5% share of NIH funding in 2015. Eleven Massachusetts research organizations attracted more than $100M in NIH funding in 2016, combining for 3,637 awards and over $1.4B in NIH funding. Boston and Cambridge together combined for a total of 2,855 awards and more than $1.9B in NIH funding in 2015 due to the high density of hospitals, universities, and pharmaceutical companies in these cities.

Massachusetts continues to attract the largest share of NIH funding per $1 million GDP among the LTS and nationally. Massachusetts’ amount of NIH funding per $1M GDP ($5,065) is unparalleled in the LTS, reaching more than 3 times the median share for the LTS. Massachusetts received the second highest number of NIH awards (5,029 in 2016) following only California (7,720). In terms of the absolute amount of NIH funding, Massachusetts ranked second ($2.5B) to California ($3.7B). Per million dollars of GDP, however, Massachusetts ranks first ($378) ahead of second place Connecticut ($143).